I provide commentary on political economy, police and prosecutorial abuse, and whatever else might come to mind.
Let justice roll down like waters,
and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Amos 5:24 (ESV)

The video of the alleged assault is shown in this link, but although the images that I saw were not very clear, it is clear that if anyone is being assaulted in this video, it is Carlton, not the guard. (I must admit that I was brought up in an era that men who physically attacked women -- and especially women smaller than them -- were considered to be utter scum. Today, police beat up women all the time and are called "heroes.")

This is a very, very disturbing case on many levels. First, Casilly piled up 28 felony charges against Carlton, having her held on $10 million bond, and then he suddenly dropped all of them, which tells me that he had no evidence at the beginning and simply lied to a judge and grand jury. Second, while she was in jail, Casilly made sure her child was taken away from her and put into foster care. The child then died while in foster care, and this account explains how Casilly made sure that the officials at the Harford County Detention Center furthered the psychological torture of this woman:

Valerie was informed of her baby's death while she was in jail, but the prosecutor arranged that the Chaplain was not permitted to perform this duty; instead it was done by an employee of the Sheriff's office who brutally announced that the baby was dead, and then had Valerie strapped into a medieval torture de!=vice, called a "restraint chair," so that she choked on her own mucus as she wept and tried to pray for her dead baby. The Sheriff's department claimed, in writing, that Valerie was "talking in tongues" because she was praying in Hebrew. An employee of the Sheriff's Department apparently told this nonsense to the ex-husband's family, who spread the rumor that Valerie was insane because of the way she responded to the death of her baby.

So, as you can see, this case is far from over. Once again, we see a prosecutor who knows he will face no sanctions in Maryland for his misconduct. We also see the system turned in its full fury against someone who is not a criminal.

Like it or not, this is the country in which we live, and from what I can see, Americans are quite happy to accept what is happening -- as long as it happens to someone else and not themselves.

11 comments:

[F]rom what I can see, Americans are quite happy to accept what is happening -- as long as it happens to someone else and not themselves.

The pool of "someone elses" is going to vanish very soon. For those of us who believe in both liberty and well-earned comeuppances, we can take perverse comfort, however cold, in knowing that massive numbers of these bloodthirsty sheeple scumbags who reflexively cheer on "the heroes in blue" and "American justice" [sic] are going to soon be the "someone elses" on the wrong side of Officer Oinky's nightstick, tear gas canister, or service weapon or will be the victims of one of Amerika's hundreds of Andrei Vyshinskys that have sprung up all over Amerika in the last decade. (For comparison, picture thousands of loyal party members in the Stalin-era USSR pleading and weeping at their show trials prior to their pre-ordained executions. "But comrade, I've always been a loyal party member! There's been a mistake! You can't do this! I'm a servant of the People!")

What a horribly sad case. I've been reading about more and more cases of CPS taking kids away from parents with no grounds and at times the kids are hurt or even die while in foster care:(. The parents have a very difficult time trying to work through the court system to get their kids back even with no evidence of the parents ever harming them. Things are so out of control in our "justice" system.

Yes they are! It is unreal how much power these people have now, and they are using the children to make the false accusations, the kids are learning very well that if you misbehave and you get in trouble just tell somebody that you were molested, have a few friends back you up, and voila, you got one person in serious trouble. That person will lose it's job, all their life savings, fear for the whole family, because the news will make sure that everybody will believe you did this, prove or not. Then if found guilty, again proven or not, you will face the rest of your life in prison, a worse sentence then if you kill somebody.

Such a sad case. I sympathize with this lady. A lot of Harford County law enforcement & judges are so crooked. I really dislike them! I have so much to say about them, it would be like writing a book. We need more Mr. Dr. Andersons here and in Baltimore as well.

This case is an atrocity. Cassily parades around in his wheel chair, sorry that he's in one, and acts so pleasant. Truth is the entire system is broken as well as a money making enterprise. People complain about the costs of incarcerating inmates but all the while judges, prosecutors, former presidents and many other own the companies that provide commissary, tv's, etc. In addition, there are businesses behind those prison walls, furniture, clothing, etc. being sold for profit and paying inmates as little as 80 cents a day which they in turn spend on commissary items. People complain that inmates shouldn't have tv's, well think for a second, do you really believe the system has any interest in making inmates "comfortable?" No, politicians, including judges, state's attorney's, former presidents, etc are profiting from these things. And yes, many people will say oh well, they are criminals, well not everyone incarcerated is guilty and many that are have only been convicted and "kept" because of misconduct. Do some research people, you never know when your family member could be prey to this system. Also, research the harford county detention center and see how many senseless deaths have occurred...these people, most being held pre trial which means they are still innocent, dying because the staff will not allow them to go to medical for something as simple as an asthma attack. Do your research please.

Through metastasis, the domestic violence that marred Ms. Valerie Carlton’s marriage apparently now also threatens her life. And, in a spectacular display of malignant narcissism, while Ms. Carlton is left to spearhead her own movement to circumvent what Harford County Detention Center inmates have warned will be her murder, theatrically staged as accident, ex-husband Russ Carlton is accumulating more than 400 “friends” on his Facebook account—lots of pretty young women—calmly reassuring internet readers of his love for 8-year old Winnie: “his” daughter.

Should our suspicion lead us through this grotesque comedy of errors back to its source—the domestic violence for which Ms. Carlton obtained 6 separate protective orders—Mr. Carlton cautions us that adverse consequences for him are necessarily adverse consequences for Winnie. It appears Mr. Carlton is clutching their 8-year old daughter to use as a shield. Great parenting, Mr. Carlton.

While we watch Valerie on Youtube—deep in our sofas; gauging her credibility; considering the evolution of her Judaism and judging the merits of this case, I congratulate Mr. Carlton and Harford County for their sinister and intertwined self-interest. We have been duped by professionals.

If you watch all 8 parts of the Youtube video of her interview by an anonymous interviewer, you will likely be disarmed by her attractiveness and reassured she has earned the pride of every graduate school professor who taught her. Aside from the decidedly undemocratic omission of the interviewer’s identity, along with his motive for putting Valerie through all 8 parts of this dark exposé, are we unaware of how we too have put her on trial? Did you detect his indelicate jabs to redirect her careful narrative of events? Have we made ourselves unwitting accomplices in the domestic violence? Have we forced Valerie into the defendant’s chair in the Public Court of Suspicion and Contempt? Are we actually looking to Valerie’s leadership with regard to her own rescue?

What happened in the Carlton divorce? What happens in a surging number of disputed child custody cases is what is happening in the Carlton divorce. And even in regard to convictions for domestic violence, to the litigants who bring this to the attention of Family Court, the Courts appear to be saying to the abused: “…and your point is?”

Wow! What a tremendous re-victimization of the stunned and abused spouse? Is there any better way to ratchet up the conflict in a divorce proceeding? What a terrific cash windfall for (almost) everyone in the adversarial system of divorce court. How convenient for the perpetrator? No, how convenient for all perpetrators? This is a slick ad campaign inviting perpetrators of every variety to step up and take their chances at a win in the carnival that is divorce court. And while these atrocities are plaid out, sweet misguided people are pointing to Ms. Carlton’s Judaism as the focus of the ugly theater the Carlton divorce has become—if only that was all that was wrong with the Carlton case.

I will not flatter the likely narcissistic Mr. Carlton. I seriously doubt his influence is elevated to the stature of manipulating Harford County, although I wager he’s aroused by that confusion. And, I strongly suspect Harford County is both angered and deeply embarrassed by the accusation that a mere Christian citizen can commandeer Harford County. Harford County has its own problems, starting with the 1992 “suicidal” death of a 28-year old man serving 30 days for drunken driving who predicted his sexual assault and murder 5 hours before he died in a Harford County jail.

The Carlton divorce is not really the issue for them either. Let’s just say it’s probably just a means to an end for each of the players in this sordid drama. Although the inexplicable death of Valerie’s infant, plucked from her breast 4 days after birth, sure must have them agitated.

My guess is that unbridled ambition is behind all of this, not religion, not Valerie and certainly not Winnie.

It's still a little surreal, even after all these years, to see blog after blog describing my abusive history and the injustices metered out to Valerie. Yeah, I am the nefarious Russ Carlton ; the villian in this particular piece of fiction I guess.To the woman above, Evellyn was it? Kudos. I mean that sincerely. Your writing is superb, and unlike so many others who write in these blogs, you did take the time to do at least some cursory research before you spouted completely unfounded opinions about this "case" for the world to see. You at least looked at my Facebook page, and you must have browsed the court records a bit to come up with a count of 6 for the protective orders. To be honest, I would have thought there were more. Valerie filed for protective orders many times, and there were "temporary" protective orders issued I don't know how many times as well. You neglected to mention the Child Protective Services Investigations. There were many of those lodged against me too. I could not give you an accurate count of the number of home inspections my daughter and I had, or how many times she was interviewed by investigators, police, hospital workers, doctors, etc. And there are also the police records, which would be more difficult to research, so they are understandably absent. Again, I couldn't tell you how many times (a lot) that the police were called during a transfer of visitation between Valerie and I. Perhaps the biggest omission you made though, are the assault charges I faced some years ago. Valerie accused me of assaulting her during a visitation transfer at a religious party she was attending with Winnie. Actually, I went to trial twice for that. The first time I was convicted and sentenced to 2 years in prison. I was absolutely shocked, and terrified. I was given 2 weeks to get my affairs in order before reporting to prison. During that time, I was free to do...whatever I guess. I could have run (as Valerie has), but I thought about my daughter, my future, and my other options first. I went to the jail that same day and filled out my admittance papers. Then I filed an appeal and hoped for the best. I won, obviously, and never spent a minute in jail, because, like all the other accusations Valerie has made over the years, it wasn't TRUE! Valerie is in a prison of her own making. It wasn't created by Harford County, Me, her parents, or anyone else she chooses to blame. It was all her.

You have been duped by an extremely evil woman - Valerie. She is a master manipulator, liar, sleeps with men for money...I could go on and on. Her father is dedicated to protecting his daughter from this evil creature and I applaud him for that. Again, you sir and those making comments in favor of Valerie, have been royally duped!!!

About Me

I teach economics at Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland. We are located on the Allegheny Plateau, and we have cool summers and tough winters.
I am the single father of five children, four of them adopted from overseas and I have two grandchildren. My family and I are members of Faith Presbyterian Church (PCA).